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Sonority as a constraint on word identification processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Sarah S. Christman  and
Rory A. Depaolis
Sarah S. Christman*
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Rory A. Depaolis
Affiliation:
University of Wales, Bangor
*
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73190
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Abstract

This study was undertaken as a sequel to DePaolis (1991) to explore the role of sonority in constraining the word identification errors of normal listeners. The data from 9 subjects from DePaolis's study were used to examine the phonological relationships, defined by the Sonority Sequencing Principle (Jespersen, 1904), between response errors and stimulus targets - a methodology previously employed in the analysis of target-related neologisms (Christman, 1992b, 1994). The present study found that, although sonority may constrain onset-driven word-search processes, sonority and lexical phonostatistics may constrain coda-driven word-search processes. These findings are consistent with those obtained from the productive errors of aphasic subjects (Christman, 1994). Taken together, the results of these studies support a role for sonority in phonologically based aspects of word identification and word production.

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Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 273 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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